Finding Foundations

Chapter 1: The Greenhouse

Authors note: this chapter contains some light horror imagery, viewer discretion is advised.

"Are we sure we got this right?" Vee felt it was only reasonable to check, the situation Masha had described seemed a little off to her. Hell, Vee wouldn't have even considered it if the request hadn't come from their good friend Willow.

"Yes, I'm sure." Masha promised. "Willow says they're having some sort of trouble in the greenhouse, trouble which she thinks has to be demonic in nature."

"Yea, but why would a demon cause trouble here of all places? It's not exactly hard to get permission to come to town." Vee questioned.

"Well, that's what we're hoping to find out." Masha answered. In the 8 years since she'd been... exposed in her true demonic form to the humans of gravesfield, progress had been slow going, habits die hard after all. But through her efforts, as well as those of Gus and others in the demon realm who had established a human realm ambassador program the year before last, access to Gravesfield was actually quite manageable for demon realm inhabitants, assuming they weren't too horrifying for the average human to look at.

"And we'll work on that last point over time." Vee had promised Gus, when a particularly... fleshy demon realm resident had wanted to visit. "It just takes some time." By now, the humans of Gravesfield were accommodating enough to just about any humanoid demons and witches, even the less human looking ones like Eileen, as well as many of the less freaky looking non-humanoids. Nowhere else, mind you, just about nowhere else even really knew that Gravesfield was such a hot spot for demon tourism, though not through lack of trying. Most townsfolk were really good at giving blank confused looks when reporters or government agents following up on a rumor came to visit. Meanwhile, Vee and Masha, both now 22, along with many of their friends acted as an unofficial support network to help keep the balance in check. The DSA as they still called themselves mostly busied themselves with supporting demons who often... struggled to adapt to the new environment, and so one of the biggest bottlenecks for visitors was simply the number of DSA members available. Sometimes, however, they had to resolve bigger problems, like the occasional demon who'd try to leave the relative safety of Gravesfield. Looping back around, that was the crux of why Vee wasn't sure about this request. None of the DSA members would call a visitor not adjusting to human culture a 'problem', so to speak, and Willow would normally be more than capable of helping out any confused demons herself, so what was up? Masha seemed to sense her thoughts, reaching out to take Vee's hands, and briefly walking backwards in front of her.

"Come on, Willow probably just misspoke, she's getting on in years, after all." Vee snorted, smiling with amusement.

"She's 31, and fitter than either of us."
"Only cause you choose not to show off." Masha answered, smugly. Strictly speaking, they were correct, Vee could make herself look like a god amongst men if she felt like it, but she much preferred feeling like herself. Masha knew this too, of course, they'd been together for more than 8 years now, but the teasing never seemed to get old for them... for either of them, if Vee was honest.

"Come on, let's see what the problem is." Vee finally said, sighing. Whatever was wrong, Vee was determined not to let down one of her longest standing friends.

Vee had only been to the greenhouse a few times, and not recently at that. She knew it was a relatively popular destination for visiting demons, but she had rarely found herself guiding visitors with such an interest. All that is to say that when they came into view of the building, Vee was once again impressed by its size. It was comparable to an unusually round stadium, and while there were a handful of buildings in the financial district which, on a statistical level, absolutely dwarfed it, none of them could even come close to comparing to the majesty of the place, for want of a better word. Before heading into the main greenhouse itself, the pair stopped at a smaller, more basic building out front at Masha's insistence.